Change Agent Competencies for Information Technology Project Managers

Korin A. Kendra Laura J. Taplin Lawrence Technological University The Hawthorne Group

In the past few years, the project management (PM) profession has grown exponentially. Yet recent studies in the information technology (IT) sector have found that the use of PM methodologies alone does not guarantee project success. In fact, IT project success is seen to rely on the ability of project managers to be agents of change (i.e., individuals who lead organizational change efforts), a traditional role of practitioners of organization development and change. This article identies the knowledge, skills, and competencies that are common to organization development (OD) practitioners and project managers, as represented by 6 principles or competencies that OD and PM change methods share: communication, teamwork, process management, leadership, training, and continuous learning. The importance of these 6 principles in developing professional project managers as effective agents of change is explored with the intent of nding means to improve upon current IT project success rates.

It focused on application development projects led by IT project managers and reported a declining number of successful IT projects (i.e., delivered on time and within budget, and met the business requirements) from 37% in 1997 to just 28% in 2000. At the same time, professional
Korin A. Kendra has 16 years of experience in project management and information technology in the automotive and telecommunication industries. She has a doctorate degree from Benedictine University in Organization Development and a masters degree from the University of Michigan in industrial and systems engineering and is a certied Project Management Professional. Kendra is currently a lead project manager in information technology for General Motors. In addition, she is an adjunct professor in the Management Information Systems Masters Program at Lawrence Technological University. Laura J. Taplin is principal of The Hawthorne Group, which provides consulting services in organizational- and individual-level change and development. Her client work focuses on key leverage points in organizational change initiatives such as leadership and issues of trust, respect, and control. She is a graduate of the Pepperdine University Masters of Sciences Organization Development program, holds a PhD in Management and Organization Development from Benedictine University, and earned designation as a certied management consultant. Her current research interests focus on issues of leadership, social control, and justice within participative work contexts. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Korin A. Kendra, 815 South Lafayette, Dearborn, MI 48124, or to Laura J. Taplin, P.O. Box 12, Caledon Village, Ontario L0N 1C0, Canada. E-mail: Korin .Kendra@gm.com or jtaplin@istar.ca

The cost of failed information technology (IT) projects for U.S. companies and government agencies for the year 1997 alone was estimated at $145 billion (Field, 1997). The same study (Field, 1997) concluded that, to successfully meet the business requirements specied by a sponsoring organization, IT projects require (a) use of disciplined project management (PM) methods and (b) development of project teams that work together effectively in dening and meeting a common set of project objectives. Failing this, Field (1997) predicted that the cost of unsuccessful IT projects would continue to escalate over time. A recent Standish Group (2000) study seems to conrm Fields dismal prediction.

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Copyright 2004 by the Educational Publishing Foundation and the Society of Consulting Psychology, 1061-4087/04/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/1061-4087.56.1.20 Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, Vol. 56, No. 1, 20 34

membership in the Project Management Institute (PMI) grew 89%, from 37,000 registered members in 1998 (Wilder, Caldwell, & Garvey, 1998) to approximately 70,000 (PMI, 2000b) in 2000. Notwithstanding this rapid growth in the PM profession, project success rates continue to fall and failed project costs continue to rise. As a consequence, organizations have begun to search for new change management methods that offer improved odds of IT project success. These new approaches borrow from the best practices and processes of OD and integrate them into PM (Hill & Collins, 1999; Kerzner, 1998; King, 1996; Nader & Merten, 1998; Shani & Mitki, 1996). Interestingly, the Standish Group (2000) study results revealed that of the 28% of projects that were successful, 97% were found to have had a project manager assigned, whereas 58% had a dened measurement system, and 46% used a PM methodology. The Standish Group (2000) study concluded that the primary reason for the declining project success rate between 1997 and 2000 was a lack of collaborative working relationships (i.e., where trust exists among team members who share responsibility for project success; Herzog, 2001). Despite this conclusion regarding the importance of collaborative working relationships, and the nding that 97% of successful projects had in common an assigned project manager, the Standish Group (2000) report focused instead on the 46% of successful projects that used a PM methodology. It appears that the Standish Group study missed a potentially richer opportunity to explore why IT projects led by project managers had by far the highest rate of project success and how collaborative working relationships contributed to that success. This article aims to extend the Standish Group (2000) study by exploring the roles that OD practitioners play in leading organizational change efforts and that project managers play in leading organizational change efforts in the IT sector. This exploratory research focuses on the OD practitioners and the project managers common

role as change agent (individuals who lead change efforts) and the knowledge, skills, and competencies that they use during organizational change efforts. We begin by reviewing the role of the change agent generally, then briey examine the nature of the OD practitioner role and that of the project manager role, and compare each disciplines view of appropriate preparation for the change agent role. The ndings of the current study identify a common set of principles that is drawn from a review of the existing literature on the respective knowledge and skills requirements associated with the organizational change methods used by the OD practitioner and the project manager in the role of change agent. These change methods include specic OD interventions and PM methodologies (Green, 1989; Jiang, Klein & Margulis, 1998; Melymuka, 2000; Varney et al., 1999; Verma, 1995) that are used by OD practitioners and project managers, respectively. The ndings also draw on existing theoretical models of professional development to formulate a practical model of development for change agents. The suggested professional development model integrates best practices and processes from the two disciplines with the intent of nding a means to help reverse the recent decline in IT project success rates.

The Change Agent Role

A change agent may be dened as a person who is responsible for initiating and maintaining a change effort. Change agents may be part of the client organization but often are not. Bennis (1969) has noted that change agents are for the most part, but not exclusively, external to the client system (p. 12). The reasoning behind this lies in the external change agents ability to affect the organizations power structure in ways that employees as change agents cannot and because they are less subject than employees to implicit and explicit organizational rewards and punishments (Rothwell, Sullivan, & McLean, 1995, p. 10).

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Quinn (1996) described a change agent as a person with high cognitive complexity in thinking about change and high behavioral complexity in the realm of making change. This person understands both the world of business and the world of human relations (p. 5). Quinns denition highlights the need for change agents to develop knowledge and skills from cross-disciplines related to organizational change methods, including an understanding of the change process, of psychology, creativity, group development, decision support systems, leadership, system dynamics, OD, transformation, and strategic change. Bennis (1993) described the change agent role as the integration of social and technical skills. He stated, although they are aware of these three nonpersonal factors (technology, structure, and task) and occasionally focus on them, their main preoccupation is with people and the processes of human interaction (p. 18). His view can be seen to support the premise of this article: IT project managers need to develop and apply cross-disciplinary competencies from both PM and OD to achieve project success. Bennis (1993) dened four competencies for change agents to be successful in helping organizations to achieve effectiveness, improvement, development, and enhancement. In his view, the four essential competencies for success include the following: (a) broad knowledge of the intelligence from the behavioral sciences and theories and methods of change; (b) operational and relational skills, such as the ability to listen, observe, identify, and report, and to form relationships based on trust; (c) sensitivity and maturity, including self-recognition of motivators and the perceptions that others have of these motivators; and (d) authenticity in living and acting in accord with humanistic values. In addition to the change agent competencies described above, Bennis (1993) also found that change agents intervene at different levels of an organization at different times while working with people and building relationships within the target organization. To be effective at these different levels, a change agent must rely on skills

from both PM and ODincluding planning, managing tasks, leading project teams, and interfacing with the users in the organizationand on general knowledge of IT, business, and human behavior (Bloom, 1989; Johnson & Fredian, 1986; Koehler, 1987).

The OD Practitioner as Change Agent

The practice of OD has been dened as a response to change, a complex educational strategy intended to change the beliefs, attitudes, values, and structures of organizations so that they can better adapt to new technologies, markets, and challenges, and the dizzying rate of change itself (Bennis, 1969, p. 2). Another view of OD
Involves consultants who try to help clients to improve their organizations by applying knowledge from the behavioral sciences psychology, sociology, cultural anthropology, and certain related disciplines. . . OD implies change, and, if we accept that improvement in organizational functioning means that change has occurred, then broadly dened, OD means organizational change. (Burke, 1987, p. 3)

The OD practitioners role has traditionally emphasized the importance of effective working relationships in helping organizations, teams, and individuals to optimize their business success. Burke (1997) has highlighted the importance of the OD practitioners role as a change agent, referencing the ability to recognize and manage the effects of cultural differences. Culture inuences the negotiation process, management in general, performance monitoring and control, and work and informationsharing norms (p. 16). OD can be characterized along a number of dimensions. First, its perspective is typically longer term, focused on complex change efforts as opposed to quick x solutions to short-term problems. Its philosophy and practice is predicated on democratic, egalitarian, and humanistic values.

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Its primary vehicle for change is education that is designed to expand peoples ideas, beliefs, and behaviors, thereby enabling new approaches to organizational challenges. OD emphasizes employee involvement in diagnosing problems, considering and selecting solutions, identifying change objectives, implementing planned changes, and evaluating results. OD practitioners work to empower employees by giving them a voice in decision-making; facilitating employee ownership of change processes and outcomes; creating open communications; and promoting a culture of collaboration, inquiry, and continuous learning (Rothwell et al., 1995, p. 8). The OD practitioner normally adopts a hands off approach to change management to ensure that the sponsoring organization (client) retains ownership for achieving the business objective and to enable client self-sufciency in future through transfer of knowledge and skills from the OD practitioner to the client group itself. The change methods that the OD practitioner uses are referred to as interventions (Bell & French, 1999) that are designed to assist companies in aligning their human resources to meet business objectives (Weisbord, 1987; Wyatt, 2000). OD interventions may encompass design of meeting content and process to achieve the business objective. Content design may include technical and social learning that aids participants in achieving their business objective or meeting purpose, whereas process design deals with elements such as participation, involvement, and commitment building, meeting location and set-up, and participant and facilitator roles and responsibilities. Given the values-based characteristics described above, the practice of OD can be seen to differ from other approaches to change management where managers or consultants are held responsible for the success or failure of a change effort.

level (core) knowledge and skills of OD practitioners (Varney et al., 1999). This set of skills and competencies, presented in Table 1, was identied through a series of surveys that were completed by practitioners and academics in the elds of OD and organization behavior (OB), on the basis of their professional experience. Entry-level knowledge and skills are dened as the building blocks upon which OD practitioners gain competency; they are learned in the rst years of academic study and practice and are strengthened over time through the work that practitioners perform in organizations. These building blocks include study in management and organizational theory and development of the interpersonal, communication, collaboration, problem solving, and coaching skills that practitioners use when engaged with a client. The advanced level of knowledge and skills are developed through further study of organizational theories, concepts, and frameworks associated with the OD practitioners work. The set of entry-level and advanced skills and competencies was developed as a guideline for OD professional development and represents a common body of knowledge for the OD profession (ODBOK).

The Project Managers Role as Change Agent

In the IT sector, the project managers role as change agent is, in many ways, similar to that of the OD practitioner, albeit more hands on and more accountable for project conduct and outcomes. The project manager can be seen to act as (a) a planning agent (Kerzner, 1998), (b) a human resources manager (Verma, 1995), and (c) a facilitator (Meredith & Mantel, 2000) for projects that require changes to key business processes. With respect to the planning function, the project manager may be viewed as the planning agent and as the person responsible for the assignment and scheduling of resources (Kerzner, 1998). Kerzner (1998)

OD Knowledge and Skills

A study presented at the 1999 Academy of Management Conference identied the entry-level (foundational) and the advanced

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Table 1 Guidelines for the Organization Development Body of Knowledge

Entry-level (foundation) Knowledge Organization behavior Individual behavior (psychology) Group dynamics Management and organization theory Comparative cultural perspectives Research methods and statistics Functional knowledge of business and management principles and practice Skills Interpersonal, communication: listens, feedback, articulate Collaboration/working together Problem solving Using new technology Project management Conceptualizing Present/educate/coach Knowledge Organization design Organization research System dynamics History of OD&C Advanced (core) Skills Managing the consulting process Analysis/diagnosis Designing and choosing appropriate/relevant interventions Facilitation and process consultation Evaluating organization change Developing client capability

Note. From Guidelines for Entry Level Competencies to Organization Development and Change (OD&C), by G. Varney, C. Worley, A. Darrow, M. Neubert, S. Cady, & O. Gurner, 1999, Paper presented at the meeting of ODC Division, Academy of ManagementOD&C, Chicago. In the public domain.

sees the project manager role as that of a project administrator who establishes policies, procedures, rules and guidelines and who provides direction to the team regarding these aspects of the project. In contrast, the OD practitioner works with the project team to assist them in developing the processes and skills by which they agree to work and coaches the team to successfully enact the desired skills and behaviors. Vermas (1995) view of the project manager role is similar to that of the human resource manager role. He classies the human resource manager role into three aspects: interpersonal, informational, and decisional:
The interpersonal role is as gurehead, leader, and liaison for the project team and sponsoring organization. The informational role is for assembling, selecting, monitoring, and communicating information and for acting as a project spokesperson. The decisional role focuses on allocating resources, exploring new opportunities, handling disturbances and conicts, negotiating, analyzing situations, setting priorities, and making sound and timely decisions to encourage creativity and progress. (p. 24)

Verma (1995) also sees the project manager as playing a very important role in motivating project team members and others who are involved in the project:
Project managers manage conictidentify, analyze, and evaluate both positive and negatives values of conict and their effects on performance. They evaluate the situation and use appropriate conict management techniques. Project managers, as negotiators, deal with clients, contractors, vendors, technical specialists, functional managers, and project team members about budget, schedule, design constraints, priorities, resources, responsibilities, and performance requirements. (p. 173)

The change methodology that the project manager relies on is a formalized PM methodology as opposed to an OD intervention or design. In any case, the project manager must take on the role whereby attempts are made to achieve goals through accommodation and the exercise of inuence (Meredith & Mantel, 2000, p. 127). Inherent in the project manager role is the ability to apply entry-level and ad-

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vanced skills appropriately during the lifecycle of the project. Each skill set is called upon to address specic issues and directions. For instance, interpersonal, communication, and collaboration skills are key to building strong relationships within the project team and across the business community. These process-related skills, including facilitating and controlling the project, become daily activities. As such, they are essential to maintaining compliance with project timelines, business requirements, and cost budgets. In these various aspects of the project manager role, the individual can be seen to rely on both technical and social skills as a change agent (Bennis, 1993), and these social skills can be seen to be very similar to those of the OD practitioner, as illustrated in Table 1.

PM Knowledge and Skills

The Project Management Institute (PMI) developed the PM Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide; PMI, 2000a) framework to help organizations successfully manage one-time change efforts (projects). The PMBOK Guide encompasses both general management skills and knowledge areas including project integration, scope, time, cost, quality, human resource, communication, risk and procurement as shown in Figure 1. The competencies of a project manager are dened by subject area, function, and leadership behavioral characteristics (Adams & Campbell, 1996; Bander, 1986; Melymuka, 2000; Zimmerer & Yasin, 1998). Subject areas identied for project managers include the following: planning; managing tasks; leading project teams; interfacing with the user and the overall organization; along with understanding general technology (i.e., IT hardware, software, and communication networks), business, and human behavior. Adams and Campbell (1996) dene the project manager functions as planning and scheduling, performance analy-

sis, cost trends analysis, logistics management, cost control, organization and manpower planning, maintaining the technical/business interface, contract administration, controlling materials and manpower, estimating, and procedure writing and administration (p. 77). Previous studies on PM have identied project manager skills and leadership characteristics that contribute to successful projects (Jiang et al., 1998; Verma, 1995). Perhaps the most comprehensive study of IT project manager skills (Jiang et al., 1998) identies 18 specic skills that are used by project managers. This set of skills was drawn from previous research that identied system analyst skills used in developing information systems (Green, 1989). However, this set of skills can be seen to apply to PM irrespective of industry context or sectoral focus (Frame, 1994). In a survey of IT project managers, Jiang et al. (1998) asked them to rank the 18 system analyst skills in order of importance to project success. The results of that study are presented in Table 2 and show the ranking of skills that was derived from averaging project manager responses. The 18 skills, listed in the resulting rank order from most to least important to overall project success, include the following: interviewing, directing, managing, speaking, listening, writing, cooperation, patience, leadership, sensitivity, diplomacy, training, empathy, organization communications, politics, sales, assertiveness, and nonverbal skills. The study recommended use of the skills ranking as a guide to the development of PM training programs to enhance project manager performance and overall project success. The behavioral skills identied in this study (Jiang et al., 1998) can be seen to equate to the key building blocks for competency as an OD practitioner (Varney et al., 1999) in helping clients to achieve their business change objectives.

Comparison of Change Agent Methods

As alluded to earlier, some key differences exist in the approaches that OD prac-

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Figure 1. Overview of the nine management process areas as presented in the Project Management Institute, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide)2000 edition, Project Management Institute, Inc., 2000. Copyright and all rights reserved. Material from this publication has been reproduced with the permission of PMI .

titioners and IT project managers adopt in organizational change efforts and in how they enact the role of change agent. These differences arise from distinct preferences in management philosophy and values bases and can be seen to manifest in matters of project ownership, methodol-

ogies, ways of working together (e.g., process vs. expert consulting), employee participation levels, and terminology, among others. As referenced earlier, the project manager is held responsible and accountable for project success (business performance) and

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Table 2 Project Managers Behavioral Skills and Associated Actions Ranked From Highest to Lowest Based on Level of Importance to Project Success
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. InterviewingAsking the right questions DirectingGiving instructions and communicating requirements ManagingPlanning, organizing and controlling projects SpeakingPresenting ideas ListeningHearing and reecting on what is said WritingPreparing documents CooperationWorking with others productively PatienceContinually rening requirements through feedback LeadershipDeveloping teams SensitivityBeing aware of implications to the community DiplomacySaying no and being tactful TrainingEducating users EmpathyUnderstanding how others feel Organizational communicationsView of company goals, senior management orientation PoliticsIndividual motivation, power and inuence SalesPromoting and persuading AssertivenessInsisting on what needs to be done Nonverbal communicationsBody language

Note. From Important Behavioral Skills for IS Project Managers: The Judgments of Experienced IS Professionals, by J. Jiang, G. Klein, & S. Margulis, 1998, Project Management Journal, 29, 38. Project Management Institute, Inc., Project Management Journal , Project Management Institute, Inc., 1998. Copyright and all rights reserved. Material from this publication has been reproduced with the permission of PMI .

consequently takes a more hands on approach to meeting the sponsoring organizations business objectives than would an OD practitioner. Both can be seen to play a role in planning; however, the project manager takes a lead role as the planning agent (Kerzner, 1998) and as the person responsible for the assignment and scheduling of resources (Kerzner, 1998). The OD practitioner plays a supporting role to the client through joint planning activities. Both professions rely on change methodologies, but each uses differing change methods to improve organizational performance. Project managers use a formal PM methodology that encompasses key processes, management practices, and tools that are used to dene, control, and implement projects. Each PM activity represents a task (i.e., specic work to be completed by the project manager and/or project team members) to achieve improvements in organization performance (e.g., implementation of a new IT application). In comparison, OD interventions typically entail customized design of meeting content and process to achieve the desired business objectives. The OD consultation process may

include planning intervention activities and outcomes and providing feedback mechanisms through interview and/or survey data. Content design for an intervention may include technical and social learning that aids participants in achieving the business objective or meeting purpose, whereas process design deals with elements such as participation, involvement, and commitment building, meeting location and set-up, and participant and facilitator roles and responsibilities. The OD intervention is designed to encourage open communication among and active participation by the members of the sponsoring organization (French, Bell, & Zawacki, 2000) in order to enable individual and collective commitment to and achievement of the desired business outcome. OD practitioners regularly use intervention designs (change methods) that maximize employee involvement in order to generate commitment to the change initiative throughout the sponsoring organization (Axelrod, 2000; Blake, Mouton, & McCanse, 1990; Bunker & Alban, 1997; Nadler, 1977; Owens, 1997; Schein, 1988; Weisbord, 1987). For project managers, employee involvement and participation is more a matter of selecting only

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those resources with the expertise to perform specic tasks or activities that need to be accomplished in order to meet the business objective (Kerzner, 1998; Verma, 1995). To help ensure that a project meets the planned schedule, cost budget, and delivers an information system (software application) with zero defects, the project manager also uses quality management tools and techniques (M. Fleming, 1986). For example, the Earned Value Analysis method is a quality management technique developed by the Department of Defense (Abba, 1997; W. Fleming & Hoppelman, 1996) to measure variances in project performance (PMI, 2000b). OD interventions typically build in an evaluation component that both (a) assesses the effectiveness of the intervention in achieving desired business outcomes and (b) provides the client with the information it needs to adapt and improve its processes and outcomes. Different terminology for shared concepts and differences in the conceptual meanings of shared terminology that are

associated with each professions approach to change highlight the need for OD practitioners and project managers to build knowledge across the two disciplines. For instance, both professions use the term process management but the conceptual meaning of that term is very different for each profession. For a project manager, process management relates to the nine knowledge areas of the PMBOK Guide (PMI, 2000a) and the activities that are performed in each management area. The OD practitioner process-management activities may involve problem-solving methods, depending on the type of intervention, used in assisting organizations through their change efforts.

Professional Development for Change Agents

The process by which change agents (i.e., project managers and OD practitioners) develop their skills can be illustrated

Figure 2. Steps towards the mastery of professional competencies in project management and organization development. From The Development Plan: Part of the Performance Management System, by J. Knutson, 1998, PM Network, 12, 17. Project Management Institute, PM Network , Project Management Institute, Inc., 1998. Copyright and all rights reserved. Material from this publication has been reproduced with the permission of PMI .

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by the performance progression model (Knutson, 1998), shown in Figure 2. The model is a pyramid composing four progressive levels of professional development. The rst level, or foundation, is constructed of the basic knowledge of the eld. The second level represents skills that are developed by a professional in his or her area of practice. The third level, referred to as competency, is built from skills that have been applied over time to eventually become habit. The top level of the pyramid is the area of mastery and represents the progression from knowledge, skill development, and competency, to inherent behavior. At the mastery level, learning continues through feedback, observation, education, and recycling through the steps of the pyramid. Applying the performance progression model enables a better understanding of the professional development process for OD practitioners and project managers as change agents and serves to strengthen the proposition that capabilities grow through continuous learning, knowledge of cross disciplines, and practice. Continuous learning for the professional change agent involves gaining new knowledge through formal education and rening skills through informal workshops (Adams, Bilbro, & Stockert, 1997) and through practical application of knowledge and skills with clients. Adams et al. (1997) identied formal educational requirements for the project manager to encompass the areas of psychology, information technology, statistics, technical writing, labor relations, law, economics, personnel, accounting, merchandising, contracting and procurement, and organization theory (p. 81). They stated that, informal skills development requirements include the areas of communications, negotiation, conict management, personnel management, organization relationships, working well with others, group dynamics, and leadership techniques (p. 81). The Adams et al. (1997) view of the professional development process for a project manager is a linear progression

such that, over time, the project manager gains additional knowledge and skills through both formal education and informal training activities. Similarly, Knutsons (1998) model views a project managers professional development as a linear progression with a feedback mechanism. Knutsons model proceeds vertically from one level of professional development to the next in a sequence of steps (i.e., from the bottom of the pyramid to the top), whereas the Adams et al. model progresses horizontally from left to right over time (i.e., years of PM experience).

Toward a New Model of Professional Development for Change Agents

Commonalties that exist between OD and PM change methods are seen in a set of common principles that are shared by both disciplines. This set of common principles aligns with the OD practitioner and the project manager knowledge, skills, and competencies (Adams et al., 1997). The six common principles (competencies) include communication, teamwork, process management, leadership, training, and continuous learning, as shown in Table 3. The rst principle, communication, applies to project manager skills for interviewing, directing, speaking, listening, writing, nonverbal communication, and organizational communications that map directly to the interpersonal communication skill set of the OD practitioner. The second principle, teamwork, applies to the project manager skill of cooperation and the OD practitioner skill at collaboration. The third principle, process management, applies to the project managers ability to manage project activities and the OD practitioners PM skills. The fourth principle, leadership, applies to the project managers skills in directing, in demonstrating patience, leadership, sensitivity, diplomacy, empathy, politics (political savvy), sales, and assertiveness. These leadership skills align with the OD practitioners leadership skills in facilitation and process consultation. The fth principle, training, is associated with the training and education that both the

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Table 3 Six Principles, Knowledge, and Skills That Relate to a Project Manager and Organization Development (OD) Practitioner Role
Principles Communication Project manager Interviewing, directing, speaking, listening, writing, nonverbal communication, organizational communications Cooperation Managing OD practitioner Interpersonal, communication and conceptualizing Collaboration/working together Project management, designing, choosing new technology, evaluating, problem solving, organization change Facilitation and process consultation

Teamwork Process Management

Leadership

Training Continuous Learning

Directing, patience, leadership sensitivity, diplomacy, empathy, politics, sales, assertiveness Training PMBOK guide, formal education, professional seminars and workshops, and certication

Present/educate/train, developing client capability Entry-level, advanced knowledge, formal education, professional seminars and workshops, and certications

Note. PMBOK

Project Management Body of Knowledge.

project manager and OD practitioner provide to the organization. The sixth principle, continuous learning, involves the acquisition of new knowledge through formal education, knowledge and skill development activities, and through accumulated work experience. Over time, the project manager and the OD practitioner develop a level of competency in these six principlebased skill sets. Their level of competency is demonstrated through the ability to successfully implement change efforts and the associated contributions to achievement of business objectives. Figure 3 presents a professional development model that encompasses these six competencies in a three-dimensional model. The three-dimension model depicts the development of change agent competencies as a function of time and symbolizes the depth of knowledge, skills, and experience required for mastery as a change agent. Aligning the knowledge and skills requirements for change agents to six common change method principles reveals the change agent competencies that are needed to support successful organizational change efforts. Each of the change agent competencies are depicted in Figure 3 within a

three dimensional model with the three axes representing the knowledge (x-axis) and skills (y-axis) from cross disciplines, and the years of professional experience (z-axis) working as a change agent. As shown in Figure 3, competencies are a function of time (years of experience). As the change agent gains more knowledge (horizontal progression on the x-axis) and applies his or her skills repeatedly (vertical progression on the y-axis), his or her individual competencies are developed (progression on the z-axis). Change agents use their knowledge, skills, and competencies throughout a change effort and additional knowledge and skills are accumulated through professional experience in OD and PM (Adams et al., 1997; Knutson, 1998). This third model of professional development advances the linear models of professional development by portraying different levels of individual competencies. For example, a change agents leadership competency may become more developed than his or her process-management competency because of greater leadership experience than process-management experience. The six common principles (competencies) of communication, teamwork, process man-

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Figure 3. Change agent competency levels as a function of time: knowledge (x-axis), skills (y-axis), and years of professional experience (z-axis).

agement, leadership, training, and continuous learning for change agents can be grouped into a unied model based on the commonalties of OD and PM change agent requirements (and change methods). The unied model has six sides (one for each competency) as shown in Figure 4. Each side of the cube represents the specic knowledge and skills that compose a particular competency. For instance, the leadership competency illustrated in Figure 5 is made up of both the project manager skills of directing, demonstrating patience, leadership, sensitivity, diplomacy, empathy, politics (political savvy), sales, and assertiveness and the OD practitioners leadership skills in facilitation and process consultation. Figure 6, which portrays the top view of the cube, depicts the communication competency that is composed of both the PM skills of interviewing, directing, speaking, listening, writing, nonverbal communication, and organizational communications and the OD skills of interpersonal communication and conceptualizing.

managers and OD practitioners to help organizations to implement change successfully. In supporting organizational change efforts, both OD practitioners and project managers (Frame, 1994; French et al., 2000; Kerzner, 1998) can be seen to play

Conclusion
Todays more complex, faster-paced business environments require both project

Figure 4. A unied (six-sided) change agent competency model developed from organization development and project management organization change methods.

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the role of change agent. The underlying philosophies, approaches, and change methods associated with each discipline may differ, but the knowledge, skills, and competencies needed to be effective change agents are very similar (Bennis, 1993; Burke, 1997; Green, 1989; Jiang et al., 1998; Melymuka, 2000; Varney, et al. 1999; Verma, 1995). The change methods that each discipline uses can be seen to share a common set of principles (competencies) that transcends the OD and PM disciplines and that guide their work in supporting successful change efforts. The six common principles include communication, teamwork, process management, leadership, training, and continuous learning. These are the professional competencies that are developed and used by the OD practitioner to assist the client organization and by the project manager to successfully lead IT change efforts. Existing professional development progression models (Adams & Campbell, 1996; Knutson, 1998) provide structural guidelines for the development of the OD practitioner and the project manager. The model of professional development derived through this study builds on these structural models by articulating the cross-disciplinary competencies required for change agent effectiveness and ultimately, for project

Figure 6. Top view of competency model depicting the change agent communication competency.

success. The model is depicted as a sixsided cube composing the shared requisite knowledge, skills, and professional experience that transcend the elds of OD and PM. In summary, to be effective as a leader of change and to improve the odds of IT project success, project managers must develop and master the change agent knowledge and skills associated with both the social science of OD and the management science of PM.

References
Abba, W. (1997). Earned value management Reconciling government and commercial practices. Available from http://www .acq.osd.mil Directory: pm/paperpres. File: abbapmmag.html. Washington, DC: Defense Systems Management College Press. Adams, J. R., Bilbro, C. R., & Stockert T. C. (1997). Principles of project management: Collected handbooks from the project management institute. Newton Square, PA: Project Management Institute. Adams, J., & Campbell, B. (1996). Principles of project management: Collected handbooks from the Project Management Institute: Roles and responsibilities of the project manager. Sylvia, NC: Project Management Institute Publication Division.

Figure 5. Frontal view of competency model depicting the change agent leadership competency.

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